


floating not sinking

by swallowthewhale



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 08:30:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8438563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: “Have you ever actually counted the number of ways you could kill someone?” he asks casually, like they’re on the Waverider instead of on a fishing ship in the middle of a storm.





	1. Chapter 1

Sara refuses to go below deck unless they’re sleeping. She steals Leonard’s parka and sits at the prow and ticks off all of the reasons she doesn’t have to be afraid.

It’s a fishing vessel, much bigger than the Gambit.

It’s not storm season, and they’re in the much warmer waters of the Red Sea.

The biggest danger in the Red Sea is pirates, which Sara is not afraid of.

It’s not ten years ago, and Sara is not the same girl she was back then.

“Am I ever going to get my parka back?”

Sara tucks her hands deeper into the pockets. Leonard sighs and sits next to her.

“I guess that’s a no.”

Sara doesn’t feel too bad. He handles the cold much better than she does.

The skipper comes up behind them, collapsing his eyeglass. “Storm’s coming,” he says in Arabic. “Best get below before the rain starts.”

Sara stiffens.

The skipper nods and ambles back along toward the stern, yelling directions at his crew.

“Sara,” Leonard says slowly. “What’s wrong?”

She stands and unzips his parka, handing it back to him. He doesn’t take it. “We should get below deck. There’s a storm.”

She walks off with his parka and he stares after her, suddenly very worried. He has no delusions about how Sara made it to the League of Assassins. She’s also had nightmares every night they’ve been aboard the ship.

Leonard follows Sara down into the tiny room that they’ve been sharing. Leonard had offered to sleep on the floor, but Sara had scowled and told him, “You sleep on the floor as long as I don’t hear a single word of complaint about your back, and besides,” she said from under an arched brow, “it’s not like we haven’t shared a bed before.”

Leonard is glad he doesn’t blush, because this bed is decidedly smaller than the beds they’ve shared in the past, and his body doesn’t behave nearly as well as he’d like it to when in close contact with Sara Lance.

Sara is laying flat on her back, Leonard’s parka over her shoulders. Leonard sits at the foot of the bed and doesn’t flinch when Sara tucks her toes under his leg.

“Rummy?”

Sara shakes her head, still staring straight up at the ceiling.

“Laying here and worrying isn’t going to make it any easier,” he drawls.

Sara scowls at him, and he almost grins. Sara doesn’t need gentle right now. His plan is to get her riled up enough that she’s mad at him instead of the storm, or the ship, or memories that can’t be changed.

Sara sits up, punches his arm, and flops back down.

“Was that supposed to hurt?” he asks archly.

“Don’t make me break out my knives, Leonard,” she grumbles, tugging the hood up to her nose.

He grins this time. She looks absurdly cute scowling at him from under his jacket.

Predictably, that just makes her grumpier.

“Come on, birdie.” He starts dealing. “Trying to beat me should be enough of a distraction.”

Sara ends up throwing her hand at him five times in an hour, and there’s still a little crease between her eyebrows, but she beats him four out of ten games and Leonard figures that’s good enough.


	2. Chapter 2

Their first night on the ship, they found that Sara didn’t really need her pillow because she always ended up using Leonard as one instead. They ditched the second pillow and Leonard learned that Sara did not sleep well on the water. He had the bruises to prove it, too.

It’s close to midnight when Sara gives up on the card games. She’s already curled up at the head of the bed, throwing her cards haphazardly toward the piles in the middle. Leonard doesn’t even bother finishing off the game, he just sweeps the cards up and goes to use the head while Sara changes.

Sara is staring out the porthole when Leonard gets back. She looks a little queasy, and Leonard turns her by the shoulders toward the bed.

Leonard lays flat on his back, one arm behind his head and the other around Sara’s shoulders where she’s tucked into his side. The first time she had curled into his like this had been on the Waverider, after he’d been having nightmares about his father. He still doesn’t know how she knew, but all of a sudden she was there, pressed into his side. He’d gone stiff and hadn’t been able to fall asleep again for nearly an hour. After that, though, he hadn’t had any more nightmares. And something about the no-nonsense way in which Sara touched him, like it wasn’t a big deal, made it okay.

Leonard falls asleep wondering if love means trusting a ninja assassain not to kill you in your sleep while they’re reliving the worst night of their life in their dreams. He tries to focus less on when he decided he loves Sara and more on the best way to avoid Sara killing him.

Leonard wakes abruptly, in the middle of a dreamless sleep, to sharp nails on his hip and Sara moaning into his ribs. They’re in the middle of the storm now, lightning cracking above them and the ship rolling violently enough that if Leonard didn’t have Sara to worry about, he might be a little nauseous.

“Sara,” Leonard says gently. “Sara, calm down.”

He breathes a sigh of relief when Sara retracts her nails.

Then the ship tips a little too far and they tumble off the bed. Leonard lands with a thump on the floor, but Sara keeps rolling and lands on her feet like a cat on the other side of the very small room.

Leonard props himself up against the bed and straightens his legs out, crossing them at the ankle. He can almost touch the other wall with his feet. Sara’s awake now, still crouched in the corner, her hand at her waist reaching for a knife that’s not there.

“Sara,” he says quietly.

She droops, tucks her knees into her chest, and hides her face. Leonard waits. Eventually, she starts shivering and crawls over to sit by his feet. Leonard drapes the blanket from the bed around her.

“Have you ever actually counted the number of ways you could kill someone?” he asks casually, like they’re on the Waverider instead of on a fishing ship in the middle of a storm.

Sara scoots closer, but doesn’t touch him. She’s still shivering.

“I used to have this recurring nightmare, when I was in juvie. I was getting out, and I got home and found Lisa dead in her room. I would have that nightmare at least five times a night, every night, the whole time I was there.”

Leonard sweeps his feet around so that he’s on his knees and rests a hand on her wrist. Sara rests her chin on the back of his hand.

“And when I actually got out of juvie, I was so sure it was going to come true. And it would have been my fault, because I’d left Lisa alone with Dad for so long.”

“She wasn’t dead,” Sara whispers.

Leonard cups her cheek, tilts her head up, and slides his hand into her hair. “Neither are you, Sara,” he whispers, and kisses her. Sara goes very, very still. When he pulls away, Sara looks surprised and confused and blinks at him owlishly. Leonard kisses her again, and this time she melts into him.

“Len,” she says against his mouth. “Can we get back in bed?”

He pulls Sara up as he stands and lets her tuck her freezing toes between his legs.

“I have counted,” she mutters against his collarbone eventually.

“Hmm?”

“The ways I could kill you. Except,” she props herself up onto her elbow, serious and quiet. “It really sucked when you died.”

Leonard pulls her back down with an arm around her waist. “We don’t need to talk about that.”

“I know you have nightmares about it.”

“Not for a while.”

“You’ve been moaning in your sleep every night we’ve been here.”

Leonard rolls his eyes even though she can’t see and drags one of her legs between his, tight and firm.

“Oh,” Sara says and rocks her hips against his.

Leonard groans and kisses her hard, but then very gently pulls away.

He can sense more than see Sara’s pout.

“Maybe not here, on a tiny bed, surrounded by strangers, and in the middle of a storm.”

Sara sighs, but is interrupted by a yawn. She turns over and drapes Leonard’s arm over her hip. “G’night, Len.”

“I won’t let you float away.”


End file.
